Ruth Davidson is the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives after its
members narrowly rejected her main opponent’s plan to disband and start a
new right-wing party.

The 32-year-old former BBC journalist edged out Murdo Fraser by only 566 votes in the bad-tempered contest after he argued the Tory brand was too mistrusted north of the Border for the party ever to succeed.

But Miss Davidson, who is openly gay and a kick boxer, said she will unite the deeply-divided party and attract new support from sections of Scottish society that have stopped listening to the Conservatives.

The result marks the culmination of a remarkably rapid political ascent. She joined the party two years ago and only won election as a Glasgow MSP in May after the Tories’ first-choice candidate was forced to stand down over his financial history.

She won the endorsement of only two other MSPs during the campaign, with the largest group backing Mr Fraser and his plan to replace the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party with a new organisation.

The contest was also marred by personal slurs, culminating in accusations of a dirty tricks campaign and the suspension of the party’s chief spin doctor amid claims he was helping Miss Davidson.

She emerged as the winner with 2,983 votes to Mr Fraser’s 2,417. The other candidates, Jackson Carlaw and Margaret Mitchell, finished third and fourth respectively.

The contest was conducted using the Single Transferable Vote system of ranking candidates in order of preference, with Miss Davidson winning 182 more first-choice votes than Mr Fraser

Delivering her victory address in Edinburgh, Miss Davidson said: “The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is very much alive and kicking. That has been very clear in the exhilarating debate we have had during this campaign.”

Despite the divisions exposed in the campaign, she said she and the other candidates “have far more that unites us than divides us in the Scottish Conservative party and we will move forward together.”

Unlike Annabel Goldie, her predecessor, Miss Davidson is leader of the entire Scottish party and not just the MSP group at Holyrood. The change was made after the party won only one Scottish seat in last year’s general election.

David Cameron said he was “delighted” at her election “and look(s) forward to working with her to strengthen the Union and build a better future for Scotland.”

Mr Fraser, who was Miss Goldie’s deputy, said he and his supporters would remain in the party despite their belief the Conservative brand is a busted flush.

Asked whether he regretted the high-risk strategy, he said: “"I think the bold and radical proposal that I had … was a leap too far for the majority of our members.

“Lots of people said to me I was foolish to stand on the platform I did but for me to do otherwise would have been dishonest.” He said Miss Davidson has a tough task reinvigorating the party under the current name but wished her well.

Miss Goldie and the other party leaders congratulated her, but Alex Salmond, the First Minister, also goaded over the number of members who voted and Mr Fraser’s plan to wind up the Scottish Tories.

“That merely underlines the scale of the task for Ruth Davidson in motivating her party,” the SNP leader said.

The contest was called in the wake of a disappointing Holyrood election result in May, which saw the party’s share of the vote drop to another record low. It returned only 15 MSPs, five fewer notionally than in the 2007 election.

Mr Fraser was the initial front-runner but suffered a backlash over his plan for a new party, with the other candidates describing it as a “betrayal”.

Senior figures such as David Mundell, the party’s only Scottish MP, and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the former Scottish Secretary, endorsed Miss Davidson to ‘save’ the party.

However, she became the centre of a dirty tricks row after publishing an analysis of recent election results that suggested Mr Fraser had been a hindrance to the party.

Ramsay Jones, the party’s media director, was then suspended after admitting visiting her Glasgow home. Although they denied discussing campaign matters, he had previously been warned by Andrew Fulton, the Scottish Tory chairman, to stay neutral.